Halfway DAAAAAAAAY

Summer running is the literal worst

2026 so far!

The postives

I have made little changes to my every day that are terrific, especially in terms of exercise and honoring commitments to myself. 

The negatives

LOTS OF THINGS TO DO IN THIS SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR.

The seasons

Season 1, first semester: FUN-- was it??

Season 2, Summer: BALANCE-- will it be?

And, of course, THE LIST:

BIG GOALS:

❌creative writing: LOL I have done nothing

🟡professional development: Some stabs but not super focused.

Hobbies and Home:

❌Re-design my blog: Nope

✅Keep track of blog content: Yes, but not sure why

❌Use IG to promote blog posts: Not once

✅Read a book a week on my Kindle: YES!!!!

🟡Meet up with 2 new blog friends and keep current connections:

No new meet ups yet!

❌Buy: lamps, pillows, duvet covers, seasonal candles:

LOL no, but an IKEA is opening 2 miles fro. my dooooooooor!

🟡Buy a house in Peoria?: Still looking

✅Perfect toll house cookies: YES!!!

Fitness:

🟡Increase run to 40 minutes/day: Working on it

✅Run just about every day in 2026 (think about what to do if I can't):

Every day so far

❌Run 3 races including a 10K: I don't think I want to do this

🟡Hit protein and fiber macros MOST day (how many is most? 90%?):

I HAVE been more mindful of this, especially protein, but I still default to mostly carb options

(which means my fiber goals are CRUSHED most days.

🟡Take a barre class: Still want to

❌Ingest less sugar : Erm.

🟡Get a new friend for Annabel (that'll make me walk more):

Still shopping

❌Join a gym with Cooper: I don't want to...

Celebrations:

✅Make a big deal about milestones: YES!

❌ Make sure to book Xmas pop up restaurant and outdoor globe

Need to get on this

❌Buy flying wish paper for NYE 2026

NO reason why I haven't

🟡Bake a variety of cookies for Christmas 2026

I will!!

🟡Stuff my own stocking

I will!

✅Shop early for holidays: Loving this so far

🟡Make Hanukkah special (December 4-December 12): Can't wait

❌/🟡Visit BU and UW-EC once each semester:

We did NOT do this last semester, but I have an EC thing on the books...

Balance, a day late to Tuesday Topics, which is soooooo apropos

 Jenny wrote a terrific Tuesday Topics post answering this question: How do you find balance during summer chaos?

And I? Am still thinking about the answer. I have been mainlining Lazy Genius podcast episodes as I always do when the season changes, and I have been struggling to name what matters, which is her brilliant first step. Enter Jenny's post and a total lightening bolt moment. BALANCE. 

Balance matters.

 In fact, if I were picking a word for my season (which, actually? According to my blog, I am), then that word would be BALANCE. Season 1, second semester, was FUN (because on paper, it did not look like a very fun season. So season 2, which, on paper, looks totally kid and house-heavy even though I have work to do and fitness goals to hit, is going to be BALANCE because that is the thing I would most like to have.

I cannot even tell you how relieved I am to have that first -- most important--planning step out of the way. I mean, of course I have done the summer calendar, so I know what our time commitments and activities are, but I have not let myself think about our daily rhythms and how to make sure my non-negotiables are smoothly incorporated. But now! I can! Because I know that BALANCE is the thing.

So many balls in the air this summer, and I want our days to include:

time to exercise (I exercise between 90 and 130 minutes a day, if you count my 60 minutes of walking)

time to get dressed and put on my makeup

time to work and think deeply

time for kid activities (dance and dive drop offs ad pick ups, plus swim lessons, plus Minnie's theme of the day)

time for kids to have fun (boring, 90's-style, unstructured fun)

time to tidy

time to feed everyone (thoughtfully and intentionally, even if that intent is pizza and vodka lemonades at the pool)

time to read

time to loaf on the couch

time for friends (mine and theirs)

BALANCE, you guys, is the key to making sure most of these thing happen in the course of most days, even when (especially when?) I am the only parent home (but not the only adult! we have FOUR ADULTS in our house this summer!)

Above please see a stand-in adult attending Minnie's school picnic since Ben and I were at Cooper's 8th grad graduation. (SOMETIMES THE BALANCE IS TENUOUS, and that's OK).

Also, side note: running in the summer SUCKS. Gvie me a 5-degree morning ANYTIME.

Season 2: SUMMMMMMMMA

 Oh, do I love summer!

The relaxed mornings!

The pool!

The light reads by my favorite, most reliable authors! 

Minnie and I put together a light summer structure that we are super excited about since we are continuing to be camp-and-childcare-free.* Here's what we got:

Make it Monday (baking or crafts, weather dependent)

New park Tuesday

Sweet treat Wednesday (stole this years ago from Kelsey Wharton)

Library Thursday (this one is mainly for me because I need a regular day f I am actually going to read my books).

Fun Fun Friday

Here's Minnie's Friday bag of destiny:

Besides that, I have a few other goals for this fleeting season:

Celebrations:

We have 8th grade promotion, high school graduation, our 15 year house-iversary, our 21st anniversary, Harry's 20th, and Minnie's 6th-- I want to make them all special and memorable. We will also celebrate TWO college move-ins this summer and dance and dive nationals season. Phew!!

Fitness:

Increase my daily run from 30 minutes to 40

Take a barre class

Take a hot yoga class

Household:

Trade out some of my daily cleaning products for less toxic versions. I will still use bleach spray in the bathrooms when they need it, but my everyday wipe-down cleaner could be something gentle not lemon bleach-free Clorox, for example, that makes me cough and cannot possibly be good for us.

Use baking soda and a toothbrush to clean the sink when I am putting the kitchen to bed

Personal/professional development:

Work on an intentional email check in routine instead of the avoid and dig out shuffle I have going on now

Use my planner every day

Write in my one-sentence journal every day-ish instead of doing a binge

Do 2 no-spend days a week

Observe Christmas (shopping) in July

Fun:

Visit our town's James Beard nominated bar

Go out to dinner with Ben

Order pizza at the pool

Drink Tito's and lemonade by the pool (literally does not feel like summer until I do this)

Cultivate a yes-and mentality as default summer mom mode

Do a Girls rewatch while I lift weights (this show is freaking hilarious now that I am basically Hannah's parents).

*Cooper and Dorothy both have diving from 10-11:30. Then Cooper dives again from 2-5. Plus Dorothy has 12-ish hours of dance a week. And Cooper works at the pool's front desk in his off time-- they are SO BUSY that they really don't have time for anything else. Sports ARE their "childcare" and they are both old enough to BE my childcare for Minnie, so this is not the flex it used to be. 

Goals: May Review/ June Preview

 To review, I had loooooow Maypectations. And! SPOILER: I did not meet them.

✅Get dressed in real clothes every day

❌Yoga every day

✅Lift weights every weekday

🟡Prepare for KID SUMMER: can anyone ever really prepare for 5 kids home all day?

🟡Date night for my birthday: day date instead-- no booze and not as fancy, but still nice.

❌A visit to my mom for Mother's Day

June Goals:

1. Run, lift weights, and do yoga before 7:30am. It's OK if I start these things before 7:30 am, but it would be even more tremendous if I could be DONE with them by then.

2. Get dressed in real clothes every day. Let's keep the momentum going!

3. Read my Book of the Month books that have been hanging around. I have The Lowe Job, Our Perfect Storm, It's Not Her, and Lost Lambs languishing on my bedside table.

4. Take a quick walk after every meal. Research says this can be really good for you, and I think it would be a better way to tell my brain we are all done eating than, say binge eating Tru Fru chocolate strawberries, you know?

5. Read all the random Amazon First Reads kindle books I have waiting for me on my Kindle before I buy new books.

6. Work outside the house 2 days a week. This is goin to be tricky with SO MANY kids travel events on the calendar, but it would also be SO GOOD FOR ME.

7. Water my gardens.

8. Attend 3 dressy events and buy ZERO DRESSES for me OR the girls. CAN I DO IT? Will I still have to buy shoes?? Stay tuned!

MAY GOALZ: Not very many.

 May goals:

1. Get dressed in real clothes every day

2. Yoga every day

3. Lift weights every weekday

4. Prepare for KID SUMMER (with lots of alone time, a massage, an indulgent Kindle budget, plenty of work time in coffee shops, and chunks of time where I sit in the house and close my eyes and have ZERO SENSORY INPUT FROM ANYONE/THING (except maybe the dog))

5. Date night for my birthday

6. A visit to my mom for Mother's Day

I see May as a brief interlude between seasons, since I am done with the semester, but the kids are still in school, so I am going to prioritize rest and relaxation. (Also we have a weekend of dance and two different weekends that will see Ben in FL with Cooper for dive meets, plus a weekend were Ben's at work for commencement, plus a kid coming home for summer, so maybe the idea of rest is a nonstarter...)

SPEAKING OF NONSTARTER, I did NOT do a good job of meeting my April goals. At ALL. YOU GUYS.

PD

1. Work on course prep for fall ❌
2. New prep for spring❌
3. Read more AI stuff❌
4. Review new textbook❌

Hobbies and Home

1. Use IG to promote blog posts❌
2. Meet up with a blog friend I have never met in IRL before❌
3. Buddy read Kin✅
4. InstaKids Chatbook this month and make an April album✅

Fitness

1. Maintain a calorie deficit every day this month ❌
2. Hit fiber and protein macros every day this month❌
3. Yoga every day again!✅
4. Get new medium weights🟡 YOU GUYS! My old heavy weights are now my medium weights, and I need new heavy weights! KILLED IT!!!!

Celebrations

1. Take Jack out for an 18th bday dinner✅
2. Super fun Easter weekend✅
3. Plan graduation but like for realz❌
4. WORK ON THOSE STOCKING STUFFERS .❌

But! You know what I DID do?

I kept up a new tradition of starting a phone photo album for the moth and throwing good photos in there-- so easy to make Chatbooks and IG posts! I also got stronger! And kept up my running streak! And did some cool professional stuff that's not bloggable! Also I changed everyone's sheets on the regular. It's the small stuff, you guys.

I leave you with this, the work of a kindergarten planner in the making...

March goals revisited/April on tap!

I LOVE planning my whole month in my big old monthly planner and looking at all the days laid out. I realize really important things-- like next week when I have to be on campus every darn day and the fact that we are busy EVERY WEEKEND IN APRIL. Omg. Eau Claire visit this weekend. Dance competition AND a dive meet in Madison next weekend. Dance competition/convention AND a dive meet in Chicago the following weekend. Baseball tournament the last weekend. Gah.

Unforch I realized this too late to schedule 4 weekly house cleanings or to pause Minnie's gymnastics tuition since we cannot make ANY of her classes. But! I was in time to switch her to a weeknight class for April and pause her tuition for the summer starting next month. Yay! (ish). Hoping to get a company in to clean toward the end of the month and winging it the first two weeks.

SO. April. VERY BUSY. Cruel, you might even say. But still! I HAVE GOALS.

First, though, let's review March.

✅Finish watching Oscar movies!: This was super fun, and we had a blast doing our Oscar pool

✅Query blog designers and research DIY options: I have great ideas!

✅Watch the Oscars with the fam and do a betting pool of some kind: Loved this ALSO WON THE POOL

✅Celebrate Dorothy!! And buy her some gifts!: Check and check.

✅Celebrate Ben!! Yep.

🟡Visit Harry at UWEC: Canceled due to spring blizzard and rescheduled.

🟡Shop for Easter: Partly!

❌Plan Jack's bday: Absolutely not.

❌Decide where and when we are hosting Jack's grad party. Big old nope.

❌Consider my writing process and outline it; see where it might fit into my life: NOPE

❌Buy new lamps for the kitchen/living room: I did stain the hell out of a lampshade, so this task seems even more urgent.

✅Do yoga every day this month: Yes! (except that one day)

✅Run at least 2 practice 8K's (slightly longer than my usual morning runs, though I have worked up to at least 3 miles): I did do 2 long runs!

🟡Be a better blog friend and leave comments for 10 minutes every day (I've been doing lots of reading w/o commenting): SORT OF

✅Notice when I rest before all my work is done: YES! I have started sitting down to read when I want to, not wen I feel like I have earned it.

April Goals

PD

1. Work on course prep for fall
2. New prep for spring
3. Read more AI stuff
4. Review new textbook

Hobbies and Home

1. Use IG to promote blog posts
2. Meet up with a blog friend I have never met in IRL before
3. Buddy read Kin
4. InstaKids Chatbook this month and make an April album

Fitness

1. Maintain a calorie deficit every day this month (this is an intentional cut, and I won;t bore you with the deets)
2. Hit fiber and protein macros every day this month (at least 75 grams protein; 30 grams fiber)
3. Yoga every day again!
4. Get new medium weights (I have 8-- need to go up to 10, but maybe not quite ready for 12)

Celebrations

1. Take Jack out for an 18th bday dinner
2. Super fun Easter weekend
3. Plan graduation but like for realz
4. WORK ON THOSE STOCKING STUFFERS for myself. I think I haven't pulled the trigger because my birthday and mother's day is next month, and I have given all my good ideas away. Def want a mini Hydroflask and will get one for my stocking if I don't get one for Mother's Day.

March Ins an Outs and February Goal Post Mortem

 

I mean, as long as there's snow on the ground, Uggs are probably going to be a person in, but a girl can dream, right??

March Goals:

 Finish watching Oscar movies! (I have 2 best pictures and 2 best actress flicks to go)

Query blog designers and research DIY options

Watch the Oscars with the fam and do a betting pool of some kind

Celebrate Dorothy!! And buy her some gifts!

Celebrate Ben!!

Visit Harry at UWEC

Shop for Easter

Plan Jack's bday

Decide where and when we are hosting Jack's grad party

Consider my writing process and outline it; see where it might fit into my life

Buy new lamps for the kitchen/living room

Do yoga every day this month

Run at least 2 practice 8K's (slightly longer than my usual morning runs, though I have worked up to at least 3 miles)

Be a better blog friend and leave comments for 10 minutes every day (I've been doing lots of reading w/o commenting)

Notice when I rest before all my work is done, something The Lazy Genius was talking about this week and that I want to do more often (I usually do it NEVER right now, so anything is more often than that)

February Goal Check-in:

✅Schedule at least one fun thing every week.

✅Get my hair trimmed, and get Dorothy and Minnie's hair trimmed, too. 

✅Finish prepping CA260 for the semester. 

🟡See all of the Best Picture Oscar movies, plus the Kate Hudson and Rose Byrne movies so I can see everything in all the major categories before the Oscars. 

❌Buy Dorothy's bday presents

❌Start buying Easter basket stuff. 

✅Make sure every kid hosts at least one hang at our house.  (Technically Jack did not but he tried-- everyone is so busy and they do stuff other places)

✅Sign up for Crazylegs and start an 8K training plan. 

✅Buy pillows before they are gone from Costco's seasonal offerings!! 

❌Decide when and where we are celebrating Jack's high school graduation

I have moved all of the x's and the Oscar movies to March-- gotta lock in!

February Ins and Outs + January Goal Post Mortem

 

February goals:

Schedule at least one fun thing every week. So far I have a pedicure (I bought this polish, which is the most perfect combo of 2 favorite shades), coffee, lunch, and 2 date nights on my monthly spread

Get my hair trimmed, and get Dorothy and Minnie's hair trimmed, too. Ugh. We are switching salons and stylists, so this one is kind of a pain. ALSO we have zero free time after school, and our weekends are filling up.

Finish prepping CA260 for the semester. Maybe a reach goal, but it wold be great to feel like I have the whole class ready.

See all of the Best Picture Oscar movies, plus the Kate Hudson and Rose Byrne movies so I can see everything in all the major categories before the Oscars. We are almost 1/2 way through the best pics with the middle 3 kids and hope to do a family Oscar pool/viewing party.

Buy Dorothy's bday presents, and start buying Easter basket stuff. She sent us a list, so I feel like this project can really start. I am also thinking the bunny might bring spring shoes...

Make sure every kid hosts at least one hang at our house. It feels like it's our turn in all contexts.

Sign up for Crazylegs and start an 8K training plan. I am the queen of the 12-minute mile, but I really want to finish in under an hour and plan to reward myself with a post-race bloody mary.

Buy pillows before they are gone from Costco's seasonal offerings!! (They have a $20 2-pack of "hotel pillows" whatever that means that would be totally great for Ben's shams)

Decide when and where we are celebrating Jack's high school graduation

January goal check:

Apply for 2 jobs ✅

Join a gym 🟡 I did not do this, but I do not know if I want to do this. Cooper's dive team has started training twice a week (outside of their FIVE PRACTICES) at a gymnastics place doing strength and trampoline and conditioning, and his tourney baseball team has started practicing. This means he has MORE THAN 7 sportsball practices of some sort a week, and I have Apple Fitness, a bunch of different weights, an ellipitcal, and a love of jogging in the freezing cold.

Run up hills (seek out hills; pick up the pace on the way up): FORGOT THIS ONE. ❌

Buy Vday gifts for the kids and stuff to send to Harry ✅

Explore more blogs to find designs I really like ✅

Open my book project and decide if it is still alive ✅

Decide on dates for Ben and Dorothy's bday celebrations ✅

Look for Apple Watch sales for Ben ✅

Become a mini-expert on the AI academic landscape 🟡 I am not a mini-expert by any means, but I did attend a panel the other day.

Style Goals

This is the year that I am going to fill some gaping holes in my wardrobe! Seriously, some of these have been NEEDS for years, and I have no good reason for why they are unfulfilled.

1. Athleisure: You guys! I am IN LOVE WITH LEGGINGS. I have spent my whole life not wearing leggings and I think it was because I did not buy the RIGHT ONES. And (for me) the RIGHT ONES are Lululemon Wunder Train high rise (NO POCKETS). I want to like Align leggings but I need just a wee bit more structure. ANYWAY. I want to explore the world of athleisure more aggressively and find more delights like leggings and Hotty Hot shorts. (I know I love Lulu dance studio pants, and I am thinking I might need Align joggers, too). Maybe I ca upgrade my sports bras? Find more T-shirts like the boxy Athleta one I love? Am I ready to stick a toe into the TANK TOP waters? Question for you: do you actually exercise in your athletic wear? I do run in my Lulu shorts, and I would run in fancy sports bras, but I usually run in Target sweat pants and old T-shirts with a Northface fleece literally older than 4 kids zipped over the top, and I don't see this changing...

2. Spring shoes: Right now I go straight from one million pairs of Uggs (okay... 9) to one million pairs of Birkenstocks.  I have Rothy's-- do I need more? Some Madewell flats? More sling backs or kitten heels? THERE IS SO MUCH TO EXPLORE.

3. Shirts I can wear with jeans that are not t-shirts or sweatshirts. This is a HUGE hole in my wardrobe, especially for spring (and honestly has been for YEARS). I would love to be able to go out for dinner with Ben and have something to wear that's cute and easy to throw on. No more excuses! (for any of these categories, honestly).

recent date night fit (paired this with Ugg slippers because JANUARY) (will for sure wear this sequined skirt to work) (def wearing Dorothy's jazz tights)

Leggings in action at SENIOR NIGHT

Anything specific you're shopping for??

Seasonal/Monthly Goals and Some Questions

Snowy run! It was so fun to be hot an sweaty and also cold. 

SPEAKING OF FUN!

FUN is my word of the season. I cannot commit to a year of fun, but a season? BRING IT.

This month, I am going to focus on putting the FUN in fundamental and do some stuff that will set me up for success across domains in 2026.

My yearly goals are HERE, and I have pulled out a few more specific things to dive deeper into this season:

Second semester (?) goals:

✅1. Make a Disney decision: NOT GOING. (we were supposed to go with Ben who has a quick conference at the Beach Club (our favorite Disney hotel) BUT. Jack could not go (finals) and Harry also could not stay with him (obligations in Eau Claire). SO, that was complicating. Then Cooper made the school spelling bee and didn't want to miss. And Dorothy had a dance practice added to the calendar that she also did not want to miss. And! The dates overlapped with my first week of classes (again, not impossible, but complicating for sure). So. We decided not to tag along. **whomp whomp**)

2. Big sticky process goal: writing creatively-- what will this look like? I just read A Long Game by Elizabeth McCracken, and it was AMAZNG and helpful in thinking about my own process/practice. I am still thinking about this and what success in this category even looks like.

3. Professional development/apply for new jobs? A big one for sure. 

4. Find a second semester race. This is tough because our weekends get gobbled up by dance and dive starting in  February.

5. Holidays: V-day (my faaavorite) Ben's 47th; Dorothy's 13th; Jack's 18th; Easter/Passover

6. Visit Eau Claire (complicated for the same reason race weekend is complicated)

7. Blog design: begin this project

8. Blogger meet ups (some in the works; some to be planned)

9. 10K training planning/joining a gym with Coop/ subscribing to some runner content

Ongoing things that will be sort of running in the background all year:

New systems for tracking content, books, movement, etc

Hitting macros and workout routine

Cookie baking

Looking at real estate

Noticing sugar intake

Keeping my eyes peeled for stocking stuffers

January, specifically:

Apply for 2 jobs

Join a gym

Run up hills (seek out hills; pick up the pace on the way up)

Buy Vday gifts for the kids and stuff to send to Harry

Explore more blogs to find designs I really like

Open my book project and decide if it is still alive

Decide on dates for Ben and Dorothy's bday celebrations

Look for Apple Watch sales for Ben (ongoing until March) (He has a first gen Apple Watch that is finally starting to be glitchy after a decade of constant wear).

Become a mini-expert on the AI academic landscape. I want to know what's out there in terms of tools, how people across many disciplines are using them, and what kind of consensus (if any-- not really expecting any) exists among people who teach writing. I also want to see what's going on in terms of policy-- both larger institutional policy and personal syllabus-level policy. I think this goal will transcend the month of January because I don't anticipate having a ton of free time to devote to it, but I can see what the heck is out there and get a better idea of scope with just a few hours of work, I am pretty sure.

Questions:

Is "second semester" a good label for this season?

When does the second semester end? For me, it's MAY FIRST! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. But the kids don't get out until JUNE TENTH. SO that's a month and 10 days when they have school and I am on break.

So is May-August summer? Or is May its own little epoch? With June-August being summer break?

I guess I want to follow my schedule since the kids are still technically in their first semester of school (they break in February), but I am for sure in spring semester mode right now. SO I am already following my schedule and not theirs.

How do you break up your seasons? Quintiles? Quarters? Something more specific to you? For me it would be

January: Fresh start/ everyone's schedule is effed/ I don't even know what day it is most of the month

Feb-April: Dance and dive regional season; baseball tourney season; spring semester

May-second week of June: End of kid year/ schedules changing/ I don't even know what day it is most of the month

Third week of June-July: Summer break, baseball, summer dive league, dance nationals and tryouts, and dive nationals season

August: Dregs of summer/schedules upended/dance, dive, and baseball on break/I don't even know what day it is most of the month

September-October: Back to school

November-December: Holiday season

OR I could do the less insane

Spring Semester

Summer break

Fall Semester

Winter break

and just recognize that there will be anomalous months in each season...

I have never though about things by season before (except to realize when I am in one that sucks), so I am not sure how I want to think about it... Help!

26 for 2026/a look back at 2025/January Ins and Outs

 I did... ok on my annual goals last year. I abandoned the baking goal and did not write or do pomodoros, and I only recently got back into my regular yoga practice. I did have fun listening to new music. The key for me is to expose myself deliberately to music reviews and news about music-- this reminds me that I want to listen to it.

The best thing about 2025 was also the most surprising: running-- I loved it so much. Ben and I kept talking about that on vacation as we ran a 5K on the beach and returned to the beach to run every morning but one when we ran through Harbour Town. On that run, we discovered a tiny little cemetery we've never seen before with graves dating back to the early 1800s, and we even ran on a golf course for a bit. It was so fun to see our favorite place in a whole new way. I am grateful for every mile I logged and sad it took me 47 years to become a runner.

For this year's list, I thought about 3 domains with 8 goals (2+6) in each area. This only gave me 24, so I also want to think about 2 HUGE areas and how to develop SMART goals for them each season

BIG GOALS:

creative writing

professional development

Hobbies and Home

1. Re-design my blog

2. Keep track of blog content

3. Use IG to promote blog posts

4. Read a book a week on my Kindle

5. Meet up with 2 new blog friends and keep current connections

6. Buy: lamps, pillows, duvet covers, seasonal candles

7. Buy a house in Peoria?

8. Perfect toll house cookies

Fitness:

1. Increase run to 40 minutes/day

2. Run just about every day in 2026 (think about what to do if I can't)

3. Run 3 races including a 10K

4. Hit protein and fiber macros MOST day (how many is most? 90%?)

5. Take a barre class

6. Ingest less sugar 

7. Get a new friend for Annabel (that'll make me walk more)

8. Join a gym with Cooper

Celebrations:

1. Make a big deal about milestones:

2. Make sure to book Xmas pop up restaurant and outdoor globe

3. Buy flying wish paper for NYE 2026

4. Bake a variety of cookies for Christmas 2026

5. Stuff my own stocking

6. Shop early for holidays

7. Make Hanukkah special (December 4-December 12)

8. Visit BU and UW-EC once each semester

Something I am thinking about still is how to track these goals. I made a google sheet for 2025 and was never motivated to open it, so I stopped tracking (after setting up a really complex tracking system), which led to abandoning many of the goals themselves. I think checking in seasonally will be really helpful because it will impose structure on the whole process, so I plan to do my seasonal panning in the same google doc I used to write the list (as well as in my google calendar). Monthly, weekly, and daily planning all happen on paper with the calendar as a guide, and I will open my 26 list then, too. I will also print a few hard copies (for my office, to tuck in my monthly planner, etc) to have it handy.

Finally, because I always like to hop on a trend the second it's stale, I am also going to keep a note on my phone with ins and outs every month. Here's January:

I want to hear about your plans for 2026--  tell me what 2026 is going to look like for you!!